WEBVTT - #325 Maggie Freleng with Johnetta Carr 0:00:00.840 --> 0:00:05.120 A warning for listeners, this episode contains discussion of suicide. 0:00:05.519 --> 0:00:13.480 Please listen with caution and care. In January of two 0:00:13.480 --> 0:00:15.760 thousand and six, Janetta car was over at her best 0:00:15.760 --> 0:00:17.680 friend's house when there was a knock at the door. 0:00:18.160 --> 0:00:21.320 Police were investigating a violent murder that occurred in the 0:00:21.360 --> 0:00:25.600 area a few months earlier. Sixteen year old Janetta was handcuffed, 0:00:25.880 --> 0:00:30.360 taken down to the precinct, and questioned for nearly twelve hours. 0:00:31.240 --> 0:00:32.960 When I asked for my mom, he told me that 0:00:33.040 --> 0:00:35.080 it was not a girl Scouts meeting, that my mom 0:00:35.159 --> 0:00:36.480 was not a way to come down there. 0:00:38.120 --> 0:00:41.159 It was a nightmare she couldn't wake up from. Janetta 0:00:41.240 --> 0:00:44.680 soon found herself locked up in juvenile detention, charged with 0:00:44.720 --> 0:00:46.920 the murder of the man who had been her boyfriend. 0:00:48.840 --> 0:00:52.440 Janetta had a solid alibi, but as the investigation closed 0:00:52.440 --> 0:00:56.160 in around her, she felt more and more hopeless, until 0:00:56.200 --> 0:00:59.400 finally she saw only one way out. 0:01:01.880 --> 0:01:03.840 I took all these pills one night that I had 0:01:03.880 --> 0:01:09.120 been saving that I wasn't taken, and like two o'clock 0:01:09.120 --> 0:01:11.760 in the morning, I get a tap on my arm 0:01:11.800 --> 0:01:13.520 and it's this lady stand in front of me. She 0:01:13.600 --> 0:01:17.640 got an all white nurse's outfit. She just kept touching me, 0:01:17.680 --> 0:01:21.080 saying everything's gonna be okay, It's okay, sweenye. And I 0:01:21.080 --> 0:01:24.880 thought she was an angel. I feel like she honestly 0:01:25.000 --> 0:01:31.400 saved my life. My name is Johanetta Carr and I'm 0:01:31.440 --> 0:01:35.920 thirty four years old. I'm from Louisville, Kentucky. 0:01:37.440 --> 0:01:40.320 From LoVa for Good. This is wrongful conviction with Maggie 0:01:40.360 --> 0:01:59.920 Freeling today. Janetta Carr. Janetta Carr was born on me 0:02:00.120 --> 0:02:04.040 twenty fifth, nineteen eighty eight, in Louisville, Kentucky. She's the 0:02:04.080 --> 0:02:06.680 youngest of six kids and often spent time with her 0:02:06.680 --> 0:02:07.640 extended family. 0:02:08.480 --> 0:02:10.560 You know, the youngest child, I always were in things 0:02:10.560 --> 0:02:12.720 so like I'm kind of it was cool, you know, 0:02:12.840 --> 0:02:17.320 I was. I'm very, very spoiled by my siblings. I 0:02:17.440 --> 0:02:20.800 really didn't get in trouble as much by my great grandmother, 0:02:20.919 --> 0:02:23.720 my mom's mom's mom. When stuff would happen, we would 0:02:23.760 --> 0:02:25.920 all be at her house and my great grandmother was like, 0:02:26.200 --> 0:02:27.960 she's a baby. She didn't do that. 0:02:28.160 --> 0:02:31.120 You know, you had the baby privilege. 0:02:31.360 --> 0:02:34.280 Yeah, the baby privilege. Definitely the baby privilege. 0:02:36.600 --> 0:02:40.800 Until Janetta's stepdad, Edward came into the picture. Janetta's mom, Lorinda, 0:02:40.960 --> 0:02:42.880 raised all six kids on her own. 0:02:43.880 --> 0:02:46.919 She worked hard her whole life to take care of us. 0:02:48.760 --> 0:02:50.920 But you know, we had a lot of family support. 0:02:51.000 --> 0:02:53.040 So like my family's always been close. 0:02:53.360 --> 0:02:53.960 We would have. 0:02:53.880 --> 0:02:57.840 Dinners, you know, at my grandmother's house, who's my mom's mom, 0:02:57.960 --> 0:03:01.440 very very close to my biolage dad's mom, and my 0:03:01.880 --> 0:03:05.840 aunties and uncles on that side of the family, seven 0:03:05.880 --> 0:03:07.600 of us total, you know. So I was always with 0:03:07.639 --> 0:03:10.760 my brothers and sisters, my cousins. You know. When I 0:03:10.800 --> 0:03:13.440 became a teenager, I would hang with my friends in 0:03:13.480 --> 0:03:15.919 the neighborhood. We'd be at my mom's house. We wasn't 0:03:15.919 --> 0:03:17.360 at my mom's house, we'd be at one of my 0:03:17.440 --> 0:03:19.680 other two friends house. We'd be in the porch, you know. 0:03:21.960 --> 0:03:25.400 Lorenda kept a religious household, and Janetta and her siblings 0:03:25.440 --> 0:03:29.200 went to church every Sunday. Janetta also kept busy performing 0:03:29.240 --> 0:03:32.280 in plays at her church and taking acting classes at 0:03:32.280 --> 0:03:33.360 the local theater camp. 0:03:34.520 --> 0:03:38.240 And we actually did the The Midsummer's Night Dream was 0:03:38.280 --> 0:03:40.160 one of the plays that we did, and I wanted 0:03:40.160 --> 0:03:43.760 to be the witch, but I didn't get the witch part. 0:03:43.920 --> 0:03:46.440 I ended up being the unicorn. And I actually love 0:03:46.560 --> 0:03:49.560 unicorns today, so I got to be a unicorn and 0:03:49.600 --> 0:03:49.960 a point. 0:03:54.160 --> 0:03:55.480 She was just a typical teenager. 0:03:55.560 --> 0:03:59.280 You know, this is Janetta's mom, Loreinda Baker, doing. 0:03:59.200 --> 0:04:00.440 What typical teenage just do. 0:04:00.760 --> 0:04:04.120 Own the phone with her friends, withjama parties, movies, skating, 0:04:04.560 --> 0:04:07.000 hanging out into some on the front, forge ice cream, 0:04:07.120 --> 0:04:08.520 you know that type of thing. 0:04:09.120 --> 0:04:10.440 Was she ever in any kind of trouble. 0:04:11.320 --> 0:04:13.800 No. Joannette is a lovely person. 0:04:13.840 --> 0:04:17.600 She's got a lovely personality on a wonderful spirit. 0:04:18.279 --> 0:04:21.360 And everyone around her felt that spirit. She loved to 0:04:21.360 --> 0:04:23.919 spend time with her friends and pamper them. 0:04:24.360 --> 0:04:26.600 Like when we would go, you know, do stuff to 0:04:26.640 --> 0:04:28.800 the mom me and my friends. I would always be 0:04:28.839 --> 0:04:30.680 the last one to get ready because I was doing 0:04:30.720 --> 0:04:32.200 everybody else's her make up. 0:04:32.200 --> 0:04:34.520 This stuff they used to rush me. 0:04:36.040 --> 0:04:39.120 Janetta was super smart and a driven young woman. She 0:04:39.240 --> 0:04:43.160 graduated high school early at just sixteen years old. Right 0:04:43.160 --> 0:04:47.520 after graduation, Janetta started school at Sullivan University, studying to 0:04:47.560 --> 0:04:49.760 be a paralegal. She had planned to work for the 0:04:49.839 --> 0:04:53.160 Prosecutor's office. Around this time, she met Michael. 0:04:54.040 --> 0:04:58.040 I met him just in the neighborhood, like my best friend. 0:04:58.760 --> 0:05:01.200 Her and her mom had lived in these apartments, and 0:05:01.720 --> 0:05:04.200 he lived in the apartments next to where they lived 0:05:04.200 --> 0:05:06.080 at Planis. 0:05:06.120 --> 0:05:09.839 Michael Adolphe, who went by Michael, was from Haiti. He 0:05:09.920 --> 0:05:10.960 worked as a cab driver. 0:05:12.279 --> 0:05:13.159 He was nice. 0:05:13.360 --> 0:05:14.560 I mean, he was cool. You know. 0:05:15.480 --> 0:05:18.480 Michael and Janetta started dating even though he was twenty 0:05:18.560 --> 0:05:19.800 years older than she was. 0:05:20.400 --> 0:05:22.720 I mean, I had already graduated high school. I really 0:05:22.760 --> 0:05:24.840 went into dudes my age, and I know, I don't 0:05:24.880 --> 0:05:27.800 care about y'all judging me America, because let me tell 0:05:27.839 --> 0:05:31.240 y'all something, right now, Okay, let's get this straight. Okay, yes, 0:05:31.320 --> 0:05:33.400 that is part of my story. I don't care what 0:05:33.480 --> 0:05:36.040 y'all think, how y'all feel about it, because every single 0:05:36.080 --> 0:05:40.560 teenager has something that they do to rebel against their parents. Okay, 0:05:40.920 --> 0:05:45.520 some teenagers still stuff, maybe some still cars do whatever. Okay, 0:05:45.839 --> 0:05:47.599 I just liked oda dudes. 0:05:48.760 --> 0:05:52.279 Despite their age difference, Janetta and Michael had a great relationship. 0:05:52.640 --> 0:05:54.960 They had fun together, and Janetta says that he was 0:05:55.000 --> 0:05:56.479 a kind and generous man. 0:05:57.040 --> 0:06:00.000 We was two individuals that connected and liked each other. 0:06:04.600 --> 0:06:07.360 On the night of October twenty second, two thousand and five, 0:06:07.600 --> 0:06:10.800 about two months into their relationship, Michael had friends over 0:06:10.839 --> 0:06:13.880 at his apartment to play dominoes. Janetta was spending the 0:06:13.960 --> 0:06:17.160 night at a friend's house for a sleepover party. What 0:06:17.200 --> 0:06:18.320 do you remember about that night? 0:06:18.920 --> 0:06:21.920 I just remember me and my friends. We was doing 0:06:21.960 --> 0:06:26.000 her We was doing you know, makeup. We was watching videos, 0:06:26.080 --> 0:06:31.599 you know, slapping, eating snacks. At just a normal night, yep. 0:06:32.320 --> 0:06:41.960 But the next morning would be anything but normal. Around 0:06:42.040 --> 0:06:44.720 nine am, a neighbor called the police to report that 0:06:44.760 --> 0:06:47.040 someone was collapsed in front of their apartment building. 0:06:47.560 --> 0:06:48.279 It was Michael. 0:06:48.800 --> 0:06:51.800 He had been strangled, apparently with an electrical cord from 0:06:51.800 --> 0:06:54.680 a fan that was wrapped around his neck. His feet 0:06:54.720 --> 0:06:57.760 were bound with duct tape. Michael's wallet and cell phone 0:06:57.800 --> 0:07:00.560 were missing, and in his pocket was a Growl restore 0:07:00.600 --> 0:07:05.200 receipt timestamped ten forty seven pm the night before. His 0:07:05.320 --> 0:07:08.960 cab was later found a few miles away, ransacked and abandoned, 0:07:09.040 --> 0:07:13.360 with the stereo missing. Sometime after Michael left the grocery 0:07:13.400 --> 0:07:16.720 store that night, he had been robbed and violently murdered. 0:07:18.480 --> 0:07:21.560 When did you find out that Michael was killed? 0:07:22.000 --> 0:07:29.680 I've seen it on the news. It was crazy and 0:07:29.720 --> 0:07:38.680 scary and horrible and like unbelievable about who could have 0:07:38.760 --> 0:07:41.440 done it because he didn't have, you know, no like 0:07:42.000 --> 0:07:44.200 enemies that I knew of, because he was such a 0:07:44.200 --> 0:07:47.720 sweet person. So I was like, why would somebody do this? 0:07:47.760 --> 0:07:47.840 Like? 0:07:47.840 --> 0:07:48.520 Who would do this? 0:07:51.640 --> 0:07:55.440 Janetta was heartbroken and things were about to get worse. 0:08:03.360 --> 0:08:05.600 Two and a half months later, Janetta was at her 0:08:05.600 --> 0:08:08.040 friend's house when investigators came looking for her. 0:08:09.040 --> 0:08:11.680 They showed up in my best friend's house, who I 0:08:11.800 --> 0:08:14.520 was sleep next to the night that the crime happened. 0:08:14.520 --> 0:08:17.400 They showed up at her house and a detective Tony 0:08:17.440 --> 0:08:20.480 Finch knocked on the door. Her mom was like, Janetta, 0:08:20.560 --> 0:08:21.600 detective for a play you. 0:08:24.400 --> 0:08:27.440 Detective Tony Finch was the lead investigator on the case, 0:08:27.880 --> 0:08:30.080 and when Janetta came to the door, he took out 0:08:30.080 --> 0:08:33.199 his handcuffs and arrested her for the murder of plunt 0:08:33.240 --> 0:08:36.440 As Michael Adolphe. Then he brought her down to the precinct. 0:08:38.200 --> 0:08:40.520 I was really confused. I didn't know why I was there, 0:08:40.640 --> 0:08:42.199 what was going on. I just thought that I was 0:08:42.240 --> 0:08:44.440 going to get to go home because I didn't do nothing, 0:08:45.840 --> 0:08:49.840 So I was scared. I was everything any emotion you 0:08:49.840 --> 0:08:53.480 can think of. I was angry, you know, was it 0:08:53.600 --> 0:08:54.480 like registering? 0:08:54.520 --> 0:08:58.240 Like were you processing like, oh, they think I did this. No, 0:09:01.200 --> 0:09:04.560 even though Kentucky laws his police must notify my nurse 0:09:04.679 --> 0:09:09.120 parents before questioning them. Janetta was interrogated alone by Sergeant 0:09:09.200 --> 0:09:13.480 James Hellinger and lead Detective Tony Finch. She says Detective 0:09:13.480 --> 0:09:15.800 Finch was extremely harsh with her. 0:09:17.040 --> 0:09:18.760 When I asked for my mom, he told me that 0:09:18.800 --> 0:09:20.840 it was not a girl Scouts meeting, that my mom 0:09:20.920 --> 0:09:22.240 was not allowed to come down there. 0:09:23.200 --> 0:09:26.840 Janetta says he threatened her, calling her a murderer, a bitch, 0:09:26.960 --> 0:09:27.600 and a whore. 0:09:28.080 --> 0:09:31.040 He asked me if I was in a gang. He 0:09:31.160 --> 0:09:33.720 tell me he had people that placed me at the 0:09:33.760 --> 0:09:36.240 scene and that he knew that I was guilty. He 0:09:36.320 --> 0:09:38.040 told me that I was a danger and threat to 0:09:38.120 --> 0:09:40.360 society and that he didn't want me on his f 0:09:40.440 --> 0:09:42.200 and streets and that I was going to prison for 0:09:42.360 --> 0:09:42.840 f and live. 0:09:43.960 --> 0:09:48.240 The interrogation went on for over eleven hours. Janetta maintained 0:09:48.240 --> 0:09:52.160 her innocence the entire time. She was sure she would 0:09:52.200 --> 0:09:55.840 soon be released to go home, but that didn't happen. 0:10:03.360 --> 0:10:07.800 This episode is underwritten by AIG, a leading global insurance company. 0:10:08.240 --> 0:10:12.240 AIG is committed to corporate social responsibility and to making 0:10:12.280 --> 0:10:14.960 a positive difference in the lives of its employees and 0:10:15.040 --> 0:10:18.000 in the communities where they work and live. In light 0:10:18.040 --> 0:10:20.960 of the compelling need for pro bono legal assistance, and 0:10:21.000 --> 0:10:25.440 in recognition of AIG's commitment to criminal and social justice reform, 0:10:25.800 --> 0:10:29.800 the AIG pro Bono Program provides free legal services and 0:10:29.880 --> 0:10:34.920 other support to underrepresented communities and individuals. 0:10:41.360 --> 0:10:45.640 I went straight from the interrogation room. They took me 0:10:45.679 --> 0:10:47.960 in his highway. They started taking pictures of me and 0:10:48.000 --> 0:10:50.839 had me held up its number, and then they yet 0:10:50.880 --> 0:10:52.880 they sent me shirt to j c Wise. The same 0:10:52.960 --> 0:10:54.480 night I got boked into j CYS. 0:10:55.440 --> 0:10:58.560 J c Yse is the Jefferson County Youth Detention Center. 0:10:58.960 --> 0:11:03.959 Janetta's mother, Larinda, had no idea what had happened. How 0:11:03.960 --> 0:11:04.640 did you find out? 0:11:05.240 --> 0:11:08.280 My neighbor, Miss Pete, let me use her phone for 0:11:09.280 --> 0:11:11.960 any type of situation that I may have, and she 0:11:12.040 --> 0:11:13.640 came and knocked on my door and told me that 0:11:13.760 --> 0:11:17.439 Jace Wyse wanted me on the phone. I had ma Pajamazone. 0:11:17.480 --> 0:11:20.640 It was about seven forty five, eight o'clock in the morning. 0:11:21.040 --> 0:11:22.600 I ran out the back door. As a matter of fact, 0:11:22.600 --> 0:11:25.640 I left the back door open when I went to 0:11:25.720 --> 0:11:28.040 her house and got on the phone. The lady from 0:11:28.120 --> 0:11:30.200 j C Wysse told me that they were holding Johanetta 0:11:30.880 --> 0:11:33.880 on some conspiracy to murder and manslaughter and that she 0:11:34.000 --> 0:11:37.240 had to be in court that morning at eight thirty. 0:11:38.960 --> 0:11:42.840 I just couldn't believe it, you know, because the Johanetta 0:11:42.880 --> 0:11:45.880 that I know is not capable of that type of thing. 0:11:46.480 --> 0:11:48.040 And I knew that she didn't do it. I knew 0:11:48.080 --> 0:11:48.720 she was innocent. 0:11:50.040 --> 0:11:53.280 Janetta had a rock solid alibi. Over half a dozen 0:11:53.320 --> 0:11:56.600 people had been at that sleepover, but detectives had their 0:11:56.679 --> 0:11:58.040 sights set on her. 0:11:59.480 --> 0:12:00.480 For the first time. 0:12:00.679 --> 0:12:03.320 I couldn't tell her this is it's gonna be okay, 0:12:03.760 --> 0:12:06.240 It's going to be all right. You know, You're gonna 0:12:06.240 --> 0:12:08.360 be fine. We're going to get through this, because I 0:12:08.360 --> 0:12:09.880 didn't know if we were going to get through this. 0:12:10.280 --> 0:12:12.080 I didn't know what was going to happen, you know. 0:12:12.200 --> 0:12:16.959 And I could see her she was trying to be strong, 0:12:17.440 --> 0:12:20.080 because I guess she was trying to be strong for me, 0:12:20.160 --> 0:12:23.000 and I was trying to be strong for her. And 0:12:23.559 --> 0:12:25.800 I didn't want her to see me cry because I 0:12:25.880 --> 0:12:28.360 knew if she had saw me cry, she would have 0:12:28.400 --> 0:12:30.520 been more upset than she already was, and I didn't 0:12:30.520 --> 0:12:41.320 want to inflict any more pain on her. 0:12:42.240 --> 0:12:44.920 What Janetta didn't know was that while she was left 0:12:44.960 --> 0:12:48.840 confused and alone in juvenile jail, detectives were building an 0:12:49.080 --> 0:12:53.720 entire case against her. A few weeks before Janetta was arrested, 0:12:53.960 --> 0:12:57.319 detectives had interrogated a friend who was also at the sleepover. 0:12:57.920 --> 0:13:01.960 To protect the identities of these individuals, we'll call this friend, Carrie, 0:13:03.720 --> 0:13:06.440 Detective Finch had arrested nineteen year old Carrie on a 0:13:06.559 --> 0:13:10.560 bench warrant for shoplifting. While in custody, he interrogated her 0:13:10.679 --> 0:13:14.600 about Michael Adolphe's murder. Carrie said there was no way 0:13:14.720 --> 0:13:19.000 Janetta was involved. They were together all night. Carrie said 0:13:19.000 --> 0:13:21.480 that she and a few other friends, including one we'll 0:13:21.520 --> 0:13:24.560 call Kyle, drove around that night. They stopped at White 0:13:24.640 --> 0:13:27.280 Castle for some food before going back to Kyle's house 0:13:27.280 --> 0:13:30.559 for a sleepover with a bigger group of people. Janetta 0:13:30.679 --> 0:13:33.520 never left the house by herself that night, but Finch 0:13:33.720 --> 0:13:36.920 ran with that and started implicating both Carrie and Kyle 0:13:37.000 --> 0:13:42.160 in the murder as well. Finch told Carrie he'd help 0:13:42.200 --> 0:13:44.920 her with her shoplifting charges if she would repeat the 0:13:44.960 --> 0:13:49.280 story he wanted to hear. After about ten hours of interrogation, 0:13:49.840 --> 0:13:54.280 Carrie broke down and repeated Finch's false narrative that she, Kyle, 0:13:54.360 --> 0:13:59.079 and Janetta killed Michael quickly, though Carrie recanted and again 0:13:59.200 --> 0:14:02.280 maintained that she knew nothing about the murder, but it 0:14:02.320 --> 0:14:07.200 didn't matter. Finch arrested her anyway. Kyle was also interrogated 0:14:07.200 --> 0:14:10.920 by detectives about the murder, and he too was eventually arrested. 0:14:13.720 --> 0:14:17.760 Carrie and Kyle were nineteen years old, technically adults, but 0:14:17.840 --> 0:14:21.960 Janetta was only sixteen. She was initially charged as a juvenile, 0:14:22.400 --> 0:14:25.760 but she was later indicted as an adult. Among Janetta's 0:14:25.800 --> 0:14:32.920 charges first degree murder. The weight of everything that was 0:14:32.960 --> 0:14:36.680 happening was too much for Janetta to process, and while 0:14:36.720 --> 0:14:38.840 she was in the juvenile detention center. 0:14:39.800 --> 0:14:41.040 I'll try to kill myself. 0:14:42.400 --> 0:14:45.800 After her suicide attempt, Janetta was transferred to Our Lady 0:14:45.800 --> 0:14:49.440 of Peace Hospital. She was diagnosed with clinical depression and 0:14:49.480 --> 0:14:50.320 put on medication. 0:14:52.000 --> 0:14:55.760 So they started give me these pills I was supposed 0:14:55.760 --> 0:14:58.440 to take, and I would have the pels in my 0:14:58.520 --> 0:15:01.480 cheek because I still wanted to to kill myself because 0:15:01.520 --> 0:15:04.600 I was that hopeless from being incarcerated for a crime 0:15:04.640 --> 0:15:09.640 I didn't commit, having nothing to do with. So I 0:15:09.680 --> 0:15:11.680 took all these pills one night that I had been 0:15:11.720 --> 0:15:16.040 saving that I wasn't taken, and like two o'clock in 0:15:16.080 --> 0:15:18.680 the morning, I get a tap on my arm and 0:15:18.680 --> 0:15:20.640 it's this lady stand in front of me. She got 0:15:20.640 --> 0:15:23.760 on an all white nurses outfit. She had like caramel 0:15:23.840 --> 0:15:27.200 skin short her. She just kept touching me, saying, everything's 0:15:27.240 --> 0:15:33.080 gonna be okay, It's okay, sweetie. The next day I 0:15:33.120 --> 0:15:36.880 started asking the staff members, you know who she was, like, 0:15:36.920 --> 0:15:38.800 because I wanted to thank her, you know, because I 0:15:38.840 --> 0:15:41.600 feel like she honestly saved my life. And they was like, 0:15:41.720 --> 0:15:44.280 we don't know her. Nobody works here. The person you're 0:15:44.280 --> 0:15:47.840 describing doesn't work, And I thought she was an angel. 0:15:51.120 --> 0:15:54.080 Soon after that experience, Janetta reached out to her mom 0:15:54.240 --> 0:15:56.520 and told her about taking the pills. 0:15:58.880 --> 0:16:03.040 And to the hospital and set with her and just 0:16:03.120 --> 0:16:04.880 held her hand, you know, and told her, you know, 0:16:05.800 --> 0:16:07.720 I'm so sorry that this has happened to you. I'm 0:16:07.720 --> 0:16:10.320 so sorry that you're going through this, you know. I mean, 0:16:10.360 --> 0:16:13.760 you sitting in his jael Syal day after day, minute 0:16:13.800 --> 0:16:16.120 at the minute, you know, and you see people going 0:16:16.800 --> 0:16:19.040 home and you're still sitting here for something that you 0:16:19.080 --> 0:16:21.200 didn't do. I probably would have took my life to 0:16:22.400 --> 0:16:24.320 you know, but I know that God has a purpose 0:16:24.360 --> 0:16:27.320 for everybody's life, and I just felt like God had 0:16:27.320 --> 0:16:28.720 a lot for her to do down here, and he 0:16:28.800 --> 0:16:30.120 wasn't ready for her to go yet. 0:16:41.120 --> 0:16:44.880 Meanwhile, instead of probing other angles, like analyzing the evidence 0:16:44.920 --> 0:16:49.120 at the murder scene or pursuing other potential suspects, Detective 0:16:49.160 --> 0:16:52.200 Finch was hell bent on closing the case. 0:16:52.760 --> 0:16:55.240 He would do whatever he needed to do to get 0:16:55.240 --> 0:16:55.760 a conviction. 0:16:56.760 --> 0:16:59.760 This is Suzanne Hopp, directing attorney of the Kentucky in 0:16:59.840 --> 0:17:04.320 a Since project. They represented Janetta in her post conviction efforts. 0:17:04.800 --> 0:17:07.320 The final sort of nail in the coffin there is 0:17:07.359 --> 0:17:12.440 that there was a jailhouse informant that was used against Janetta. 0:17:13.760 --> 0:17:17.399 After Janetta turned eighteen, she was transferred from juvenile detention 0:17:17.720 --> 0:17:20.679 to an adult jail, and an informant who lived in 0:17:20.680 --> 0:17:24.280 the cell next door, Laurie Deckard, said that Janetta confessed 0:17:24.280 --> 0:17:27.560 to her. According to Laurie, Janetta told her she was 0:17:27.640 --> 0:17:30.920 mad at Michael, and so she, Carrie and Kyle went 0:17:30.960 --> 0:17:34.520 to his apartment and robbed and murdered him. Detectives got 0:17:34.520 --> 0:17:40.359 statements from other jailhouse informants implicating Kyle and Carrie as well, 0:17:40.400 --> 0:17:43.040 but they still had a problem the other people at 0:17:43.040 --> 0:17:47.520 the sleepover, Janetta had a solid alibi, So detective Jim 0:17:47.600 --> 0:17:52.320 Lawson interrogated Janetta's best friend, whom we'll call Britney. Brittany 0:17:52.320 --> 0:17:55.000 said she was with Janetta all night. They slept on 0:17:55.040 --> 0:17:57.960 the couch together and fell asleep under the same blanket. 0:17:58.760 --> 0:18:01.879 She told him that Johnetta did not do this, she 0:18:02.000 --> 0:18:02.720 was snaxting me. 0:18:02.720 --> 0:18:07.560 Sleep that night, but laws In dismissed her account. Instead, 0:18:07.720 --> 0:18:10.679 he fabricated a report saying Brittany told him she was 0:18:10.720 --> 0:18:13.640 a heavy sleeper and couldn't say whether or not Janetta 0:18:13.680 --> 0:18:17.119 had left the house. Even with all their alleged evidence 0:18:17.119 --> 0:18:21.360 against Janetta, Carrie, and Kyle, detectives were still hell bent 0:18:21.400 --> 0:18:24.360 on getting one of the three to flip on the others. 0:18:25.160 --> 0:18:29.360 They were relentless. They just kept going after all three 0:18:29.359 --> 0:18:34.080 co defendants and repeatedly questioning them. What the police were 0:18:34.119 --> 0:18:36.960 doing was they were telling all three co defendants that 0:18:37.680 --> 0:18:41.960 if all of you don't admit to this crime and 0:18:42.160 --> 0:18:44.960 enter into guilty please, and we're going to try one 0:18:45.000 --> 0:18:47.440 of the adults under the death penalty. 0:18:48.240 --> 0:18:50.640 Remember Kyle and Carrie were both nineteen. 0:18:51.600 --> 0:18:54.600 That was sort of like the ultimate, the end point 0:18:54.680 --> 0:18:58.520 where these three individuals were thinking about their friends and 0:18:58.560 --> 0:19:00.000 somebody facing the death penalty. 0:19:01.040 --> 0:19:03.840 With this life or death situation looming over the trio, 0:19:04.280 --> 0:19:07.359 the state offered them a plea bargain called an Alfred plea, 0:19:08.359 --> 0:19:10.320 and Alfred plea is a deal with the state or 0:19:10.359 --> 0:19:13.919 defendants plead guilty for a lesser sentence, but are allowed 0:19:13.960 --> 0:19:17.840 to maintain their innocence. Prosecutors told them they would only 0:19:17.880 --> 0:19:21.760 accept the plea deal if all three pled guilty, so 0:19:21.840 --> 0:19:26.000 they did. On April fourteenth, two thousand and eight. Janetta 0:19:26.040 --> 0:19:29.200 took the deal and pled guilty to evidence tampering, two 0:19:29.280 --> 0:19:33.919 conspiracy charges, and second degree manslaughter. She was sentenced to 0:19:34.080 --> 0:19:38.119 twenty years in prison. So how did it feel to 0:19:38.520 --> 0:19:41.520 take a plea saying, you know, I'm innocent, but I 0:19:41.600 --> 0:19:45.560 recognize all of this evidence because you know it's not 0:19:45.600 --> 0:19:46.280 real evidence. 0:19:46.440 --> 0:19:47.399 What did that feel like? 0:19:49.280 --> 0:19:52.480 I literally felt like I had no other choice because 0:19:52.480 --> 0:19:59.399 at that point I was just helpless. Just know that 0:19:59.480 --> 0:20:02.080 I was not the Johnetta then that I am now, 0:20:02.720 --> 0:20:06.439 you know, I went educated about the law and thinking 0:20:06.480 --> 0:20:08.679 they could arrest people for crimes they didn't committed. 0:20:16.040 --> 0:20:19.680 While in prison, Janetta tried to stay as productive as possible. 0:20:20.320 --> 0:20:24.120 I took computer classes, and I went to church a lot, 0:20:24.480 --> 0:20:28.080 you know, swung in the choir, a lot, wrote letters, 0:20:28.080 --> 0:20:32.920 a lot ate a lot too many noodles. I do 0:20:33.040 --> 0:20:35.359 not eat noodles. No more, y'all cany, No, we're not. 0:20:37.400 --> 0:20:37.520 Than. 0:20:42.480 --> 0:20:45.320 What was that like to be around adults as a 0:20:45.320 --> 0:20:46.000 as a kid. 0:20:47.160 --> 0:20:49.479 Well, at first, it was kind of scary because I 0:20:49.520 --> 0:20:52.400 was thinking, oh, my guinness, these people are criminals, Like 0:20:52.400 --> 0:20:54.919 what am I gonna do? But actually I met a 0:20:54.920 --> 0:20:57.840 bunch of beautiful women from all different walks of life, 0:20:58.160 --> 0:21:00.679 and they was really lights to me. You know. We 0:21:00.720 --> 0:21:02.960 gave each other hope because there was nothing else we 0:21:03.000 --> 0:21:08.960 could do. I think I went through every emotion that 0:21:09.040 --> 0:21:12.439 a parent could go through. I got frustrated, I got angry, 0:21:12.480 --> 0:21:15.480 I got upset, I cried because you know, there were. 0:21:15.560 --> 0:21:17.640 No resources available, and it. 0:21:17.640 --> 0:21:21.360 Was just a horrible, horrible, horrible thing to go through 0:21:21.400 --> 0:21:24.560 for anybody. I think one of the hardest parts for 0:21:24.600 --> 0:21:27.520 me was having to explain to Johanetta's nieces and nephews 0:21:28.240 --> 0:21:29.800 that we didn't know when she was going to come 0:21:29.800 --> 0:21:32.040 home because Johnette is very close to them and they 0:21:32.080 --> 0:21:34.960 love her, you know. And then they're crying and I'm crying, 0:21:34.960 --> 0:21:37.000 and we're all trying to make some sense out of this, 0:21:37.720 --> 0:21:40.320 and we still can't make any sense out of it 0:21:40.359 --> 0:21:51.479 as it stands today. 0:21:58.240 --> 0:22:00.960 About a year or so after her conviction, and Janetta 0:22:01.080 --> 0:22:02.479 was called into the prison office. 0:22:03.280 --> 0:22:06.320 Surprised me because I didn't know why I was getting 0:22:06.359 --> 0:22:08.520 called in her because I didn't get in any trouble 0:22:08.520 --> 0:22:11.680 while I was, you know, incarcerated, so I didn't know 0:22:11.760 --> 0:22:13.040 why I was getting called in there. 0:22:13.920 --> 0:22:17.040 When she walked in, Laurie Deckard, the jail house snitch, 0:22:17.400 --> 0:22:20.919 was there, and she admitted that during the investigation the 0:22:20.960 --> 0:22:24.520 police told her to lie about Janetta and say she confessed. 0:22:25.280 --> 0:22:29.119 Because I'm like, okay, you're saying this now, why didn't 0:22:29.160 --> 0:22:32.080 you say that, you know a long time ago? Like 0:22:32.200 --> 0:22:35.240 I'm basically, you're a part of this. You're a part 0:22:35.240 --> 0:22:37.600 of the fabricated evidence and part of the reason why 0:22:37.680 --> 0:22:41.240 I'm here. It is her fault because she didn't have 0:22:41.359 --> 0:22:44.240 to lie. But when you really think about the jail 0:22:44.320 --> 0:22:48.800 house snitches. The system actually puts them in situations, you 0:22:48.840 --> 0:22:52.320 know what I'm saying. So really the detectives on my 0:22:52.440 --> 0:22:54.280 case is responsible for that. 0:22:57.119 --> 0:23:00.240 In two thousand and nine, after serving four years of 0:23:00.280 --> 0:23:04.280 a twenty year sentence, Janetta was eligible for parole. She 0:23:04.400 --> 0:23:06.840 was granted time served for the time she spent in 0:23:06.920 --> 0:23:10.320 the juvenile detention facility and was released from prison. 0:23:12.440 --> 0:23:14.040 It was a joy and of blessing to see her 0:23:14.080 --> 0:23:16.320 after not being able to see her for so many years, 0:23:16.800 --> 0:23:18.840 and being able to see her was you know, I 0:23:18.920 --> 0:23:21.119 was in at mowhere. I didn't want to let it go. 0:23:21.200 --> 0:23:22.320 She used to tell me all the time, when my 0:23:22.320 --> 0:23:24.240 mama go, miss Peties. I'd be like, no, I want 0:23:24.280 --> 0:23:25.200 you to stay in the house. 0:23:25.640 --> 0:23:26.880 I don't want you to go nowhere. 0:23:27.680 --> 0:23:29.840